RIT Professor Named Editor of Women’s Studies Quarterly

Rochester Institute of Technology professor Diane Hope was recently named editor of the Women’s Studies Quarterly, a leading journal published by the Feminist Press at the City University of New York in cooperation with RIT.

Hope, the William S. Kern Professor in Communications in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, succeeds Janet Zandy, RIT professor of literature. Zandy, who held the position from 1997–2001, was responsible for bringing the journal to RIT.

Hope was elected editor of Women’s Studies Quarterly after serving as guest editor of the spring/summer issue, which focuses on the theme, Earthwork, Women and Environments. The issue includes a special report from Vandana Shiva, internationally known physicist, ecologist and activist, and associate editor of The Ecologist.

Hope will revisit the theme of women and the environment at the 22nd annual conference of the National Women’s Studies Association in Minneapolis, June 13–17, where she will chair a panel and present her paper, "Invisible Landscapes: Women and Place." Her research analyzes advertisements depicting images of nature.

"Images of pristine environment are used to sell just about everything, especially goods that are notoriously polluting, such as cars," Hope says. "Such images present the natural environment as a commodity we can buy in reward for affluence. The ads allow us to pretend that no matter how much we consume, a pristine nature will always be available to us."

Hope notes that most ads depicting wilderness settings feature men or products associated with male stereotypes. "Women are shown in garden images, in domesticated benign environments—toxic environments, and their affects on women’s health are made invisible."

The fall issue of Women’s Studies Quarterly will focus on women and technology, and a symposium on mass-communication technologies and gender questions will be held at RIT October 4–6.

The College of Liberal Arts, one of eight colleges at RIT, provides the foundation for every RIT student. The College offers studies in anthropology/sociology, philosophy, fine arts, language and literature, history, science/technology/society, and political science and offers bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice, economics, social work, psychology, public policy, and professional and technical communication. The college also offers master’s degrees in communication and media technology, public policy and school psychology.

For the past decade, U.S. News and World Report has ranked RIT as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. RIT is also included in Yahoo Internet Life’s Top 100 Wired Universities, Fisk’s Guide to America’s Best Colleges, as well as Barron’s Best Buys in Education.